Al Christy Jr.

Al Christy, Jr. is the founder and CEO of EquitiesFirst, a global alternative capital provider built on a simple premise: financing secured by stock should be fast, fair, and flexible enough to actually help the people who need it.

That idea took shape in the late 1990s, when Christy, then running his own lending firm, brokered a loan for a Michigan apple-farming family that had nothing left to offer but shares of bank stock. The deal saved the farm, and in 2002, Christy built it into EquitiesFirst.

More than two decades later, the firm has grown from a single transaction into a 12-office operation spanning seven countries — the United States, United Kingdom, China (Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Beijing), South Korea, Singapore, Australia (Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, and Brisbane), and the United Arab Emirates — having delivered more than $7 billion in financing to clients worldwide.

Christy's path into finance began at Fidelity Investments, where he rose to become the firm's top loan producer before starting his own lending shop, Diversified Financial Group, in 1997. He is based at EquitiesFirst's Indianapolis headquarters, though he spends much of his time visiting the firm's offices abroad.